Protagonist A $ 100 million crypto fund launched by Saber Labs
A new crypto fund called Protagonist has been launched by Saber Labs which is a Solana-based decentralized cross-chain exchange.
The crypto fund and the incubation laboratory will help basic protocols for future blockchain ecosystems by investing in them. The fund is worth $ 100 million.
The founders of Protagonist are Dylan Macalino and Ian Macalino who also founded Saber Labs.
Protagonist is based on Maimi and aims to invest in early Web3 protocols and also start-ups that spread across different verticals. It extends to verticals such as games, security, infrastructure and privacy.
The original fund may supposedly exceed the original plans as the current amount of liabilities is higher compared to the funds allocated.
The current investment includes Aptos which is a new Layer 1 blockchain; Cardinal, a Solana-based NFT tool protocol and in addition Cogni which is a digital banking platform.
The protagonist is reportedly also working on developing and incubating his own internal protocols. The network effects from one founder to another have contributed greatly to leveraging the most crucial currency of all the venture capital industry that is information and access.
The launch comes amid a downturn in the crypto market
The launch of the crypto fund took place in the middle of the crypto bloodbath, especially when venture capital financing also fell from the all-time high in early 2022. However, the protagonist is still quite optimistic about the latest investment and incubation program.
Macalino stated,
There will continue to be more thriving blockchain networks as each chain forms its own niche of applications and primitives over the next 20 years, and we are excited to play a major role in supporting these networks. Protagonist is focused on investing in and incubating the core protocols that will support the emerging web3 ecosystems.
The other founders of the crypto fund are George Bousis and Harry Hurst. Both are angel investors and series founders.
George Bousis is the founder and CEO of Raise and Slide, a gift card, loyalty and payment company. Harry Hurst is co-founder and co-CEO of Pipe, a trading platform for recurring revenue.
George Bousis, General Partner, Protagonist stated,
The primary metric for the success of a cryptocurrency is its adoption of other protocols and applications. Each new project will build on top of our previously incubated projects and portfolio companies such as legos, which will have the composite benefits of maximizing the success of the fund and the Web3 ecosystem as a whole.
Related reading | How crypto exchanges handle the bear market, Bitrue CMO
Ambiguity around the main character’s supporters
There is a lack of transparency around the main character’s supporters. The cryptocurrency fund also did not reveal who the investors were. Last year, Saber Labs secured $ 7.7 million in funding.
The names behind the support were Chamath Palihapitiya’s Social Capital, Multicoin Capital and Jump Capital.
Saber Labs is currently working on the 11th largest Solana protocol with nearly $ 95 million in total value locked, data from DeFi Llama reported.
Related reading | NFTs are entering a new era as Solana closes the gap with Ethereum
Featured image from UnSplash, charts from TradingView.com
